Cycling the Vercors — Don't resist the Prealps

The day after L'Étape du Tour, the boys and I packed up the Minivans and headed west from Bourg d'Oisans to the Vercors. The group included PhilippeC, MarkS, IanP and Teoteoteo. French/American PhilippeC, being Parisian, fluently bilingual and gregarious, was our guide for this informal trip. IanP, Philippe's cousin from Steamboat, Colorado was the best cyclist and the driver of car #1. Teoteoteo from Austin, Texas joined us after a busy tour of duty working triage for his Etape clients. Car #2 was driven by MarkS from Baltimore, Maryland who kindly picked me up at the Valence train station and chauffeured me to Alpe d'Huez, the Vercors and the Provence. And me... I'm a Canuck living in Berkeley, California giving our group one more Canadian than you could find in the Tour de France peloton this year... or for the past 10 years.

Philippe booked us two fine rooms for three nights at the Gite Les Rimets situated on a secluded picturesque hilltop outside Rencurel and not far from Villard-de-Lans. Our friendly husband/wife hosts served us local cuisine at 8:00 PM each night. I highly recommend Les Rimets, but keep in mind the hosts don't speak English.

I ventured out on our arrival day to do some recon for the big ride Philippe had mapped out for the next day. It was a great evening for a ride and my fitness was coming back, but I might have had too much fun cycling and taking movies because I cycled 65k and showed up 20 minutes late for the 8 o'clock dinner. The guys were nice enough to save me a small lettuce leaf from the tasty first-course salad.

Regional du Vercors is a vast plateau with lush green valleys and gorges cutting through thick forests. It's just southwest of Grenoble and is one of the ranges that make the French Prealps. I think Prealps stands for pre[pare yourself for the dramatic scenery and big climbs in the neighboring French]Alps. The Vercors is another example of how you don't have to travel far in southern France to find a different region with its own unique blend of scenery and culture.

Looking through the ruins at the lone building that survived Calvaire de Valchevrière — the chapel.Source: photos and french article

I knew little about this area before our visit, so Philippe filled me in on some history which I researched further for this report. In June 1944, the people of the Vercors boldly disassociated themselves from the German occupation and proclaimed the Republic of Vercors. Being the first region to do so caused the Germans to respond quickly by sending troops to suppress the resistance. Over 600 members of the local rural guerrilla band of the French Resistance or maquisards were killed before WWII finally ended the following year. We passed several plaques on our rides that paid tribute to the many resistance fighters who died in the hills of this beautiful region including the monument at Calvaire de Valchevrière.

Just 36 years ago, in 1970, much of the Vercors was turned into a park. Park systems are relatively new to France and Vercors Regional Natural Park is a experimental territory that entrusts its partners to balance nature and heritage with economic development.

The Ride Analysis: Roughly 85 mi and 7000 ft of climbing

Click the map to view the route followed for this ride. Also, here is the interactive Michelin map of Regional du Vercors

The star attractions of this ride are the corniches: Route de Presles and Cirque de Combe Laval, with the lookout at historical Calvaire de Valchevrière, the valley road through Gorges de la Bourne and the stiff finishing climb up to Rencurel also being memorable. For most of this ride you are either climbing for extended periods or following the flat valley roads.

Click the pic to watch

The first climb was a gradual 7 km ascent from St Jean to Col du Gaudissart (Combe Laval) followed by small rollers for another 7 km ride up 100 meters more to Col de la Machine (el 1015m). The second good climb, the most difficult of this ride, was from Herbouilly (el 700) to an unnamed point 1352 metres high and 8 km along on D221. This ride ended with the final climb (6 km) back up to our gite several km past Rencurel. All the climbs had reasonable grades mostly in the 5% to 9% range. The rest of the details can be gleened from the accompanying photos and videos which were taken over four days so you'll see lots of weather variation, but they are mostly arranged to follow the route. By the way, when not closed for repairs, the scenic Grand Goulets can be substituted for Combe Laval to reduce the distance and amount of climbing.

The roads were quiet in July, but Villard-de-Lans was very busy when Rebecca and I returned in August. The increased traffic and the bad weather we encountered convinced us to stop at the Tourist Office and cancel our upcoming gite reservations and carry on to Provence. Normally, you can expect quiet roads in the Vercors with quality cycling just short of that found in the Alps, Pyrenees and Provence. There are lots of flat roads in the Vercors and modest climbs so it makes a great location for a training camp or a cycling vacation for those not yet ready for the Alps or Pyrenees. — Steve, November 20, 2006